Preliminary Considerations on the Corpus Coranicum Christianum

Preliminary Considerations on the Corpus Coranicum Christianum. The Quran in Translation – A Survey of the State-of-the-Art

Freie Universität Berlin/Germany, December 5^th-7^th, 2018 (two/three days, tbc)

Convener: Manolis Ulbricht & Berlin Byzantine Studies (Freie Universität Berlin)

We are delighted to announce the Call for Papers for our workshop ‘Preliminary Considerations on the Corpus Coranicum Christianum. The Quran in Translation – A Survey of the State-of-the-Art’. In this workshop, we aim to lay the groundwork for an interdisciplinary research project, which will focus on comparing the different translations of the Quran made within Christian cultural backgrounds. The project will study the Quran and its reception from the Christian perspective by analyzing all Greek, Syriac, and Latin translations of the Quran from the 7^th century CE until the Early Modern period.

The keynote speech will be delivered by Professor Angelika Neuwirth, head of the project Corpus Coranicum (CC) at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. The workshop aims to map out the different scholars and research traditions dealing with varied translations of the Quran. In addition, it seeks to connect these experts and to facilitate the scientific exchange between the multitude of studies previously conducted in this field. Finally, the workshop will examine the possibilities of using methods in the Digital Humanities for building an open-access database for systematically collecting and presenting the material for further research.

The structure of the planned project will correspond with the languages that will be analyzed. The Corpus Coranicum Christianum (CCC) shall, in a first step, consist of the three subprojects: Corpus Coranicum Byzantinum (CCB), Corpus Coranicum Syriacum (CCS), and Corpus Coranicum Latinum (CCL). More languages may later be added. The different texts that preserve translations of the Quran will be collected and analyzed individually. Then, they will be compared and commented on under the determined aspects. Therefore, all translations shall be digitalized and linked to each other and to the Arabic Quran texts in order to enable researchers to systematically examine the non-Muslim reception and transmission of the Quran. In this way, the Corpus Coranicum Christianum synopsis will be made accessible in an open-access database, thus ensuring the availability of the results to the scientific and broader public.

Papers for the workshop are welcome in one or more of the following four sections:

• Greek translations of the Quran (CCB)
• Syriac translations of the Quran (CCS)
• Latin translations of the Quran (CCL)
• Digital Humanities (DH)

For this purpose, we welcome abstracts of up to 300 words, to be submitted in English by May 31^st, 2018 to: corpus.coranicum.christianum@klassphil.fu-berlin.de. Abstracts should include your name, affiliation, position, the title of the proposed paper, your specific source(s) you want to work on, and a brief curriculum vitae. Please also indicate the preferred section (see above: CCB, CCS, CCL, DH). Notifications will be sent out in June 2018. Full papers should be submitted by 15^th November, 2018. Limited funding will be available for accommodation and/or travel. Proposed workshop languages: English, German, Spanish, and French. Papers will be published as edited volume.

The project initiative Corpus Coranicum Christianum is financed by the Presidency of the Freie Universität Berlin. For more information about this project initiative, please visit our website.

Date: 5^th-7^th December 2018 (two/three days, tbc)

Deadline: 31^st May 2018

Venue: Freie Universität Berlin

Admission: Free and open to all interested specialists and Ph.D. students